Running Head: TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE … · traffic stops by the peoria police department 2 table of contents ... the purpose of this final section is the break down the

Running Head: TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 1

Does Systemic Racism Play in Peoria?

A Case Study of Traffic Stops by the Peoria Police Department

Britta Johnson, B.A. Candidate in LAS Global Studies

Concentration in Human Rights

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Committee: Dr. Monica McDermott, Department of Sociology

and Dr. Marie Julia Bello-Bravo, African Studies Department

TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................................. 4

INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 5

BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................................................... 6 IMPORTANT TERMS AND DEFINITIONS ................................................................................................................ 7 THE MANY MANIFESTATIONS OF SYSTEMIC RACISM ........................................................................................ 8 TRAFFIC STOPS ...................................................................................................................................................... 16 HISTORY OF U.S. RACE RELATIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF PEORIA ................................................................ 17 HISTORY OF POLICE-RACE RELATIONS ............................................................................................................. 21

LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................................................... 22 INTERSECTIONALITY THEORY ............................................................................................................................. 22 CRITICAL RACE THEORY ...................................................................................................................................... 22 “DRIVING WHILE BLACK” RESEARCH ............................................................................................................... 23 MAIN ARGUMENTS BY CRITICS ........................................................................................................................... 26

METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................................................... 26 LIMITATIONS .......................................................................................................................................................... 27

DATA ANALYSIS ..................................................................................................................................... 28 TRAFFIC STOP TRENDS OVER TIME ................................................................................................................... 28 TRAFFIC STOPS BY ZIP CODES ............................................................................................................................. 30 SEARCHES CONDUCTED DURING TRAFFIC STOPS ............................................................................................ 34 RATES FOR FINDING CONTRABAND ................................................................................................................... 37

DISCUSSION............................................................................................................................................. 39 ARE POLICE OFFICERS RACISTS? ....................................................................................................................... 39 SOLUTIONS PROPOSED BY PREVIOUS RESEARCH ............................................................................................ 41 THE DON’T SHOOT PROGRAM ............................................................................................................................. 43

CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................... 46 THE PURPOSE OF THIS FINAL SECTION IS THE BREAK DOWN THE INFORMATION PRESENTED IN THIS

PAPER INTO RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT AND THE COMMUNITY TO

SYNTHESIZE THIS INFORMATION IN A PROACTIVE WAY. ................................................................................. 46 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT ..................................................................... 46

1. Implement a Robust System of True Community Policing ........................................................... 46 2. Focus the Purpose of Traffic Stops on Public Safety ........................................................................ 48 3. Continuously Collect and Analyze Police Data................................................................................... 49 4. Reevaluate the Don’t Shoot Program/ Strict-on-Crime Programs .......................................... 50 5. Initial and Regularly Recurring Training ............................................................................................ 50 6. Develop Mechanisms to More Effectively Respond to Allegations of Officer Misconduct ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 51 7. Compressive Hiring Practices that Test for Strong Implicit Bias .............................................. 52

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE PUBLIC .............................................................................................................. 52

REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................................... 54


TABLE OF FIGURES

FIGURE 1. RACIAL MAP OF SACRAMENTO (CABLE, 2010) ................................................. 10

FIGURE 2. RACIAL MAP OF DETROIT (CABLE, 2010) ......................................................... 10

FIGURE 3. RACIAL MAP OF PEORIA (CABLE, 2010) ............................................................ 11

FIGURE 4. SUMMARY OF RESEARCH DONE ON SYSTEMIC RACISM .................................... 15

FIGURE 5. TOTAL NUMBER OF TRAFFIC STOPS OVER TIME IN PEORIA, IL ......................... 16

FIGURE 6. TIMELINE OF MAJOR RACE RELATION ERAS AND EVENTS IN PEORIA ............... 20

FIGURE 7. METHODS USED IN PAST RESEARCH AND THE PITFALLS (RIDGEWAY &

MACDONALD, 2010) ................................................................................................. 25

FIGURE 8. TRAFFIC STOPS RATES BY RACE IN PEORIA, IL THROUGHOUT TIME ................. 29

FIGURE 9. STOP RATE BY AGE, RACE AND GENDER IN PEORIA, IL .................................... 32

FIGURE 10. PEORIA, IL TRAFFIC STOPS ORGANIZED BY ZIP CODE AND RACE IN

COMPARISON TO CRIME RATES (2014) ...................................................................... 33

FIGURE 11. TOTAL NUMBER OF SEARCHES BY RACE (2004 THROUGH 2013) .................... 35

FIGURE 12. NUMBER OF SEARCHES CONDUCTED BY AGE, RACE AND GENDER ................. 37

FIGURE 13. NUMBER OF SEARCHES COMPARED TO NUMBER OF CONTRABAND FOUND IN

PEORIA TRAFFIC STOPS THROUGHOUT TIME .............................................................. 37

FIGURE 14. THE AMOUNT OF DRUGS FOUND IN A POSITIVE DRUG SEARCH OF WHITE

PEOPLE DURING A TRAFFIC STOP IN PEORIA, IL IN 2013 ............................................ 38

FIGURE 15. THE AMOUNT OF DRUGS FOUND IN A POSITIVE DRUG SEARCH OF BLACK

PEOPLE DURING A TRAFFIC STOP IN PEORIA, IL IN 2013 ............................................ 38

FIGURE 16. PEORIA, IL SHOOTINGS THRU OCTOBER OF EACH YEAR, CHART MADE BY THE

DON’T SHOOT PROGRAM ........................................................................................... 45


Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to give a general guideline of understanding systemic racism

using Peoria as the central case study; specifically traffic stops by the Peoria police

department. This study predicts that racial and gender profiling is present in the traffic stops

and search rates by the Peoria Police Department. It also tests major counter arguments

presented by critics of systemic racism studies such as geographical factors and

predictability of criminal activity lacking from previous research. The data was collected

through the Freedom of Information Act via the Illinois Department of Transportation. The

data was originally collected by the Peoria Police Department under the Illinois Traffic

Stop Data Collection Act passed in 2004. The analysis of the data collected showed that

traffic stop rates have throughout time had inconsistences in regards to percent blacks being

stopped compared to the black population. These inconsistences are not explained by zip

code data, which shows that these inconsistences remained true across all zip codes making

up the city of Peoria. In addition, black people were more likely to be searched but less

likely to have contraband on their person. And furthermore, when a black person was found

with drugs, it was typically less than the average amount found on white citizens. This

disparity hits black males the most between 20 to 40 years of age. This paper concludes by

presenting recommendations to the Peoria Police Department and the public.

Keywords: racial profiling, critical race theory, Intersectionality, Peoria, police,

traffic stops, systemic racism


Introduction

A Peoria Bradley student was walking home one night when she was mugged at

knifepoint. She described her assailant as a large black male in his 20s with baggy clothing

(Buedel, 2014). A call for information on the suspect was presented in the local newspaper.

The next day, the call was revoked. The student confessed that she fabricated the story for

unexplained reasons (Journal Star, 2014). What sparked my interest to the article was her

choice in description of her perpetrator. Why did she choose a young black male when

statistics by the FBI tell us that middle-aged white males conduct most robberies (FBI,

2012)? According to an analysis conducted by 24/7 Wall St., Peoria was ranked the 6th

worst city to reside in as African American (Stebbins, 2015).1 A poll by the Pew Research

Center (2014) showed that people view the issue differently depending on their race,

although this gap has decreased over time. The question “does systemic racism play in

Peoria?” cannot be ignored by local politicians, police or citizens any longer.

I am not the only one asking this question, and other questions similar. Most

Americans are aware of the protests taking place across the nation. However, the majority

of Americans have little context in which to understand the racial tensions causing such

unrest. Protests such as those in Ferguson, Baltimore and New York took the nation by

surprise, while others are asking what took so long. This issue is not present only in large

metropolitan cities, but is pertinent across the United States. Peoria, for example, is often

considered to the representative of the average American city. In fact, the phrase “will it

play in Peoria” originally referred to Broadway plays being successful or not depending on

1 Polls show a split in preference between the terms African American and black for people who identify as

such. Therefore, I use the terms synonymously throughout the paper. When discussing previous research, I

used the term from the referred study unless it is outdated.


how well it was received by a Peoria audience. Today, manufacturers will use Peoria as a

base for their product development and testing. Does racism play in Peoria? If so, can the

solution be found here as well?

The purpose of this paper is to give a general guideline of understanding systemic

racism using Peoria as the central case study; specifically traffic stops by the Peoria police

department. This study predicts that racial and gender profiling is present in the traffic stops

and search rates by the Peoria Police Department. It also tests major counter arguments

presented by critics of systemic racism studies such as geographical factors and

predictability of criminal activity lacking from previous research.

This paper is organized to first give background information necessary to

understand the problem at present, then it will discuss past research done on the topic and

lastly go into the methods, results and analysis of the data examined to determine if

systemic racism is present in traffic stops by the Peoria Police Department.

Background

The purpose of this section is to briefly cover information necessary to understand

the issue of systemic racism in Peoria and its relation to traffic stops. There exists a copious

amount of research on dissecting system racism and I cite several sources for further

readings on the topics concisely presented here. First, I will explain important concepts,

then a history of traffic stops and why Peoria is a good place to study this topic, and I

conclude with a summarizing history of race relations in the United States using Peoria as

the focus point.


Important Terms and Definitions

Most people unfamiliar to the topic of systemic racism get caught up on the plethora

of vocabulary used to describe it. Misuse of the vocabulary causes further mishaps and

harm rather than solutions when going about discourse. Below I have defined the most

important terms to understand the rest of this paper.2

The definition of race has varied over time, which tells us how fluid it is. It

originally was thought to be biological called eugenics (Goddard, 1911; Galton 1881), then

cultural and now we know it to be a sociological term. Amongst the research community,

race is understood as the socially constructed categorization of human beings based upon

genetic pigmentation of the skin. This differs from ethnicity, which is shared cultural

characteristics associated with a particular group.

Individual prejudices are personally held beliefs of race and ethnicity that are

unconsciously or consciously acted upon when interacting with other people. A person of

any race or ethnicity can commit individual prejudices. Whereas racism, on the other hand,

is always a situation in which a member of a minority is disadvantaged due in part to their

race or ethnicity. Systemic racism is a domino effect of these many situations.3

Racial profiling occurs when racial stereotypes are used as reason to investigate an

individual. Paulhamus et al. (2010) breaks this definition into two parts: hard profiling

(using solely race as decision for the investigation) and soft profiling (the use of race as

one of several factors). Although media tends to emphasis tragic instances in which hard

profiling occurred, this can be misleading because research finds most instances are soft

2 It is important to note that some of these definitions are contestable depending on the author. The purpose

of this section is not to give concrete, unchangeable definitions but to give the reader a shared reality with

the usage of the terms as they are meant to be understood in this paper. 3 Systemic racism is sometimes called institutionalized or structuralized racism in research.


profiling, thus making it harder to study, understand, and ultimately disentangle. A study

by Friske et al. (2002) shows that only 10 percent of individuals show blatant racism,

whereas 80 percent of individuals show subtle biases.

The Many Manifestations of Systemic Racism

Systemic racism develops as a result of several moving parts working in tandem. It

can be broken down into several systems including (but not limited to) the education

system, healthcare system, housing, media, employment, and the criminal justice system.

The research in each of these fields could make for a very heavy book. Therefore, I will

give you the brief argument for each field, an example of research done, Peoria statistics

(if available) and a list of some sources you can view if you wish to learn more.

One of the most researched manifestations of systemic racism is within the

education system. An example of this would include Cribb’s (2009) study done on 4th

grade teacher’s perception on African American intelligence in Peoria’s District 150. The

study found “that African American gifted characteristics were viewed as less important

than general characteristics of giftedness” (2009). This pattern continues into higher

education. 10 percent of black citizens earn a bachelor’s degree compared to 21 percent of

white citizens of Peoria (Diversitydata.org Project, 2015). Other research in this field

includes punishments for equal misconducts according to race (Winn and Behizabeth,

2011; Williams, 2014; Cuellar and Markowitz, 2015), the effects of color-blindness in the

classroom (Lopez, 2007; Cribb, 2009), distribution of qualified teachers (Carroll et al.,

2000; Clotfelter et al., 2005) and lifetime earnings of equally educated citizens by race and

gender (Carnevale, Rose and Cheah, 2011).


Housing discrimination is a harder system to track and understand compared to the

education system. It takes a longer time to collect data since most data must be collected

in person. Recently, however, there has been more advancement in this field by looking at

census data and interest rate loans for housing (Rugh and Massey 2010; Cherian, 2014;

Bieker and Yuh, 2015). The main argument is that people of color have a harder time

finding and paying for housing compared to the white majority. A study by Stanford found

that middle-income black families live in neighborhoods with lower incomes more than

the typical low-income white families (Leonhardt, 2015). This means that white families

are more likely to have accept to high-quality schools, day care options, parks, playgrounds

and transportation (2015).

Advancement in the study of house loan practices by race has led to lawsuits against

several banks for the unfair lending practice of redlining.4 Earlier this year, Evans Bank in

New York paid nearly $1 million in settlement fees when a study showed unfair lending

practices dating back to at least 2009 (Silver-Greenburg and Corkery, 2015).

Cable in 2010 created a database using the census data to map housing segregation

of the United States. The first map displays Sacramento, which according to Lyubansky

(2015) is the most integrated city in the United States. The second map displays Detroit,

one of the most segregated cities.5 The third map is of Peoria, which displays racial housing

in-between the two extremes.

4 Redlining is the practice of denying or giving increased interest rates to African Americans 5 The clear line displayed in the second map between the black and white neighborhoods in Detroit is

known as the 8-mile line made famous by rappers such as Eminem.


Figure 1. Racial Map of Sacramento (Cable, 2010)6

Figure 2. Racial Map of Detroit (Cable, 2010)

6 In each map, black people are represented in green and white people in blue.


Figure 3. Racial Map of Peoria (Cable, 2010)

Media plays a large part of in each institution involved in systemic racism. Media

brings our attention to racial issues and this field of research argues that it also affects the

way we understand those issues in negative or positive ways. It is furthermore a good

indicator on how the population feels about race relations since media outlets generally

write articles in ways that will appeal to their audience. The race and gender of our favorite

heroes and hated villains in movies and books similarly affect our understanding of race

and ethnicity. A study by Race Forward (2014) examined how a range of news sources

such as Los Angeles Times, Fox News, The Washington Post, etc. presented racial issues.

It found that most mainstream media is not systemically aware and this can vary according

to topic (2014). Not having systemically aware content could explain why we often find

people viewing the same reality very differently. Other studies have examined media bias

in movies, newspapers and books (Littlefield, 2008; Ramasubramanian and Oliver 2007;

Hancock et al., 2013; Race Forward, 2014). However, there has yet to be a study conducted

in Peoria in this field.


Systemic racism in the employment system is often the most contested

demonstration of racism because it involves competition amongst individuals bringing to

surface conscious or unconscious practices of racism, known as the glass-ceiling in some

research. According to the last government publication of poverty data, the poverty rate of

black citizens of Peoria was 38.9 percent compared to 6.9 percent of white citizens. This

is one of the leading factors for 24/7 Wall St. to rank Peoria as 6th worst metropolitan area

of African Americans. Other studies examines hiring practices of specific companies such

as Peoria Caterpillar (Kozlowski, 2011), earning disparities between races with equal

education (OECD, 2014; Kochhar and Fry, 2014) and treatment in the work environment

(Brief et al., 2000).

Study of systemic racism in health care usually focuses on the services provided to

people according to race. The dominant thesis is that people of color receive less quality

care compared to their white counterparts. For example, the American College of

Physicians (2010) discussed how racial and ethnic minorities on Medicare were 30 percent

less likely to receive medications than their white counterparts. Other studies have

measured the distribution of people lacking health insurance (Hausman et al., 2008;

Shavers and Shaves, 2006) and mental health by race (Department of Health and Human

Services, 2001). According to Peoria data, black women are significantly more likely than

their white counterparts to have preterm births, low birth-weight deliveries and give birth

as a teenager (Diversitydata.org Project, 2015). Studies on the treatment of people of color

in the Peoria healthcare have yet to be conducted.

Systemic racism, whichever part you look at whether you look at healthcare,

housing or education, plays into each other because they all reflect society’s beliefs and


attitudes towards race, gender, ethnicity, etc. They also have ripple effects on each other.

For example, if you are unable to get into a good neighborhood because of your race, you

are less likely to be able to send your children into a quality school. Therefore, it is always

important too look at all this research together, rather than separate parts. One study alone

cannot prove systemic racism exists, only support it.

This research paper falls under the complex field of racism in the criminal justice

system. The massive amount of research in this field has been so convincing that it grabbed

the attention of almost every justice department in the nation. In response, the Department

of Justice and the Supreme Court have taken more cases involving racial injustices than

ever before in United States history. One of those cases is of the Ferguson Police

Department, which is further discussed in the conclusion of this paper. Systemic racism in

the criminal justice system theory is also the largest source for scrutiny by opponents to

the idea of systemic racism especially with current events involving police departments

making it one of the most important fields to develop further.

There are a lot of moving parts in understanding systemic racism in the justice

system that tackle the issue from time of arrest to outcomes of trail to the day a person is

released from their sentence. In summary, arrest rates are significantly higher for black

people in almost every city in the United States. Once arrested, 80 percent of black people

get a public defender which leads to only 3 to 5 percent of criminal cases even going to

trial (Quigley, 2011). Once in trial it is unlikely that a black person will be on the jury

because they are often stricken for reasons such as clothing, hair style or language or by

peremptory challenges which don’t require a reason at all (Liptak, 2015; Quigley, 2011).

Non-white people are more likely as a result to get maximum sentences compared to their


white counterpart (The Sentencing Project, 2014). The Sentencing Project (2014) tracks

this data and found that two-thirds of all life sentences are non-white people. The United

States has five percent of the world’s total population, but has a quarter of the world’s

prisoners, which is the largest of all the developed countries (ACLU, 2014). Studies have

found that the incarceration rate do not reflect crime rates (Alexander, 2011). Once out of

prison or jail, black people are less likely to find a job compared to white people who were

released from prison or jail (2011). This system all starts at the ground level with police. A

study by Baley (1967) found that many U.S. citizens’ only contact with police occurs

during a traffic stop. Langan et al. (2001) and Lundmna (1979) suggest that traffic stops

are the most common place for citizens of every race to interact with the law making it the

perfect place to examine this issue in Peoria and address some of the criticisms facing the

field today.7

7 Some articles will refer to racism at traffic stops as “differential stops” or “investigatory stops” to avoid

confusion between hard profiling and soft profiling defined earlier (Epp et al., 2014). However, I choose to

use the original term of racism at traffic stops to acknowledge that police are exhibiting bias that the

community is exhibiting as well, this is not just police behavior.


Field of Systemic Racism

Example Arguments Examples of Research Done

Education System (1) Punishments are allocated

differently by race

(2) Teachers devalue African

American traits in terms of

success

Hjerm (2001)

Williams (2014)

Maddon, Jussim and Eccles

(1997)

Housing

(1) Racial residential

segregation is the cause for

racial disparities in health

(2) It is harder for people of

color to relocate and find

housing compared to whites

Williams and Collins (2001)

Media Bias

(1) Media will portray no-

white races negatively

(2) News will broadcast

crimes more often if

conducted by a person of

color

Race Forward (2011)

Employment (1) Equivalent resumes will

not receive equivalent

opportunity due to race

(2) The behaviors of people

of color in the work place are

viewed differently in

comparison to white

coworkers and thus have

different consequences

(promotions, firing, etc.)

Pager et al (2009)

Brief et al (2000)

Ziegert and Hanges (2005)

Harrison et al (2006)

Word, Zanna and Cooper

(1974)

Healthcare Races with the same

healthcare and conditions will

not receive the same care

Hausman et al (2008)

Shavers and Shaves (2006)

Criminal Justice (1) Same crimes will be

receive different punishments

by race

(2) People of color are

suspected more than white

people for criminal activity

Alexander (2011)

Figure 4. Summary of Research Done on Systemic Racism


Traffic Stops

Traffic stops matter. There is no other form of government that comes close to the

portion of the population affected by the law (Epp et al., 2014). Police make approximately

eighteen million traffic stops a year in the United States (2014). This means that 12 percent

of citizens will encounter police in traffic stops per year (2014). Number of traffic stops

in Peoria vary greatly from 2985 stops in 2012 to 16853 in 2008. This means that traffic

stops give police the power actively enforce the country’s racial ideologies or actively re-

create the American racial divide.

Figure 5. Total Number of Traffic Stops over Time in Peoria, IL

History of Traffic Stop Data. The court case of Whren v. United States resulted

in allowing for traffic stops to be used as a location to investigate crimes giving way to

what is called the “pretextual stop” (Harris, 1999).8 This need was put in place as a response

8 A pretextual stop is when a police officer stops a car to investigate the driver of the car for potential

criminal activity. These stops often are for minor offenses such as not using a turn signal, not coming to a

complete stop at a stop sign, etc.

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

18000

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Nu

mb

er o

f P

eop

le S

top

ped

Black

White

TOTAL


to the heightened “drug war” later described in the history of US race relations. The first

national effort to collect data on traffic stops was in 1997 with the Traffic Stops Stats Act,

but the bill died in committee. Currently, states will pass their own laws on if and how

traffic stop data is to be collected. This has caused some debate across state lines on if

people from other states can request data from states they are not a resident of.

Illinois passed laws against racial profiling of both pedestrians and motorists

(Jones-Brown and Maule, 2010). In 2004, Illinois passed the Traffic Stop Data Collection

Act that compiled a collection of traffic stop data from police departments. If a citation or

written warning does not result from the stop, it does not need to be reported even if a

search is conducted. In 2014, Illinois made ticket quotas illegal statewide although Peoria

Police claim to never have had a quota requirement in place.9 This paved the way for

researchers in Peoria and other cities in Illinois to examine the data for its intended purpose,

to prevent racial profiling (Associated Press, 2014).

History of U.S. Race Relations in the Context of Peoria

As we have seen earlier, Peoria poses an ideal location to study the concept of

systemic racism because in most all the standard fields used to measure system racism,

Peoria ranks average. This connection is also present in Peoria’s history. Although there

does not exist a single compressive overview of race relations in Peoria since the 1970s,

through immense fact digging, one will find the rich history of Peoria that parallels much

of what the nation experienced as a whole.10

9 This has been found to be not true. Peoria had a quota of 10 tickets per month for each patrol officer. 10 See Dr. Barrett’s “Negro in Peoria” published in 1947and updated in 1973


The best place to start the story of Peoria race relations is with the Underground

Railroad.11 Peoria served as one of the most important terminals for former slaves from

Mississippi and Arkansas to stop for permanent settlement or continue to freedom in

Canada (Garrett, 1973). The most cited reason for staying is the economic resources open

to the black population, which may be said is true today (1973). Since Peoria was part of

the Underground Railroad and served for economic support to former slaves, it was fairly

common for former slaves to work along the industrial riverfront to purchase the freedom

of their family members still enslaved in the south. As shown in the previous map of Peoria,

black settlement along the riverside in downtown Peoria remains ordinary today even with

the increase of the black population into the northern bluffs of Peoria. Due to its pivotal

political importance, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas had their infamous debate in

Peoria where Lincoln officially declared his position as against slavery. On the other hand,

Fredrick Douglas wrote in his autobiography about trying to find a place to stay in Peoria

during this time period. At the time, Peoria hotels did not serve black citizens.

Gambling, prostitution and breweries lined the downtown area along the river

(Saul, 2014). This brought wealth and power to black Peorians who often were excluded

from other legally profitable means (2014). During the prohibition, for example, Peoria

had the biggest whisky distillery in the world (2014). This market of vices was successful

from the 1870s through the Great Depression. The temporary Taft homes where originally

created for returning veterans from World War II. A lot of the veterans married, had

families, moved out of the Taft homes and created legislation in local government to

minimize this vice market that surrounded the homes. Part of the new legislation was to

11 For information on race relations in Peoria prior to the Underground Railroad, see Dr. Barrett’s work


create a bridge across the Illinois River connecting Peoria and East Peoria. This bridge is

known today as the I-74 Bridge. It was strategically placed to break apart the most common

area known for gambling, prostitution and bars (2014). Although this helped reduce

dangerous activities in Peoria, it pushed many poor black Peorians to relocate into the Taft

homes since it was the only welfare housing (out of three in Peoria) that allowed black

citizens in a separate section from the whites (2014).12

Peoria’s Civil Rights movement started in 1963. There were lots of involvement

from local churches such as Ward Chapel and Bethel United Methodist, as well as other

organizations such as the local NAACP and Colored Women’s Aid Club, which gave birth

to the Carver Center. The Carver Center gave young African American students a place to

have prom, socialize and learn skills.13 From local bus boycotts to downtown restaurant

sit-ins, Peoria was not just viewing the Civil Rights from the television. Peoria also took

bold approaches to address the concerns risen. Peoria created the “Inter-Racial House

Visitation Day” that involved families from the bluffs (white neighborhoods) and

downtown (black neighborhoods) getting together for tea. Although this sounds a little

strange today, it was a huge advancement of the time period. Peoria District 150 also made

advances to desegregate schools before desegregation became law. At first the program

was successful, due in part to the active role of the Peoria Police Department. However, a

government study found that District 150 re-segregated with time.

12 The Taft housing has always been and remains a controversial topic when it comes to crime in Peoria. It

is commonly believed that the Taft homes are the root of crime in Peoria and people will convey desires to

remove funding. However, crime statistics show that residents of Peoria’s welfare housing is more often the

victims of crime than the perpetrators (Nightingale, 2015). 13 It was at the Carver Center that the famous comedian Richard Pryor grew his interest in acting


Other important racial events that I could gather from local library are displayed on

the timeline below. In conclusion, throughout history Peoria has been both lacking and

advanced in its race relations.

Figure 6. Timeline of Major Race Relation Eras And Events in Peoria


History of Police-Race Relations

Throughout race relation history, police have played an integral role. Peoria has no

history of lynching because of the active role of the Peoria Police Department. There are

at least two recorded accounts of the Peoria police preventing a lynching by protecting the

potential victim. Peoria police also took an active role in keeping children safe during

desegregation. According the history of the Peoria Police Department, they also hired black

officers before it was commonplace (Buck et al., n.d.). However, it was traditional at the

time for black officers to only be allowed to patrol black neighborhoods (Buck et al., n.d.).14

The average city in the United States should have a similar history with their police

departments. Subsequently, the “war on drugs” shifted police-race relations in a major way.

The drug war was “declared” by Ronald Reagan and shifted the focus of the police from

serving the community to protecting it from this invisible war. There has been a lot of

research conducted in reviewing why the drug war was declared, how it was conducted,

and its effects on today’s police-race relations (Alexander, 2011). In relation to this study,

the most important take-away from the drug war is its effects on the traditional traffic stop.

In 1998, the DEA created a “drug profile” which described characteristics of a person that

increases their likelihood of having drugs on their person (2011). One of these factors was

race.15 Although the Supreme Court had ruled that warrants based on reasonable evident

were needed to enter private properties such as homes, it had ruled in 1996 that cars did

not fall into the definition of private property since it is mobile. Consequently, this created

traffic stops as the main “battleground” for this invisible “war.”

14 In the biography of Richard Pryor, Saul (2014) describes how black officers in Peoria were more harsh

than white officers to black rule-breakers as a way to “keep them in line” 15 This profile was not created using hard evidence, but rather stereotypes and faulty arrest statistics.


Literature Review

Several studies have been conducted to track racism at traffic stops in a variety of

cities across the United States. Although these studies have the same thesis, they go about

proving systemic racism in different ways. There has also been a variety of responses to

the advancements in this research. The purpose of this section is to explain the two base

theories underlying this study, then an overview of the most ground breaking research done

on the topic, responses to the research, and lastly, how this study can add to the field by

testing some of the counter-arguments.

Intersectionality Theory

The first theory on which this study is based is called Intersectionality. This is a

theory that originated in the study of law with Crenshaw in 1988. She noted how black

defendants would sometimes experience the discriminations of a white woman, a black

man or sometimes both simultaneously and criticized the U.S. legal system for not having

legal avenues to address this phenomenon. For example, a black woman must choose if she

wishes to sue her company for discrimination as a women or being black, not both. In terms

of this research, Intersectionality theory is the understanding that one discriminatory-factor

alone does not cause an outcome alone, but rather in conjunction with other factors such as

age, race, gender, ethnicity, etc.

Critical Race Theory

Critical race theory was started within the Civil Rights movement that compliments

Intersectionality theory in that it is interested in the study of the relationship between race,

racism, and power (Delgado and Stefancic, 2012). The basic tenets of the theory are (1)

racism is a part of everyday life, (2) our current system gives preference to white citizens


and (3) racism is a product of social relations rather than biology (2012). From both

theories, it is easy to tell that this kind of research needs to be multidisciplinary. Therefore,

it is important to look at research from sociology, economics, law, criminology,

psychology, etc. in tandem because one paper alone cannot dissect and prove systemic

racism.

“Driving While Black” Research

While there have been lots of studies done on traffic stop data in several cities,

including nearby cities of Springfield and Chicago, there are few studies that changed the

course of the field.16 The term “driving while black” was coined as a phrase often used in

literature to depict the criminalization of blackness rather than law-breaking. The most

widely discussed scholarship on this topic is the New Jersey Turnpike study.

Lamberth conducted the New Jersey Turnpike study in 2002. The study determined

by field data how many drivers (by race) frequented the roadway, which race was more

likely to speed and which race was more likely to be stopped. It found a major racial

disparity in law enforcement causing a large controversy within the government and in the

media. This study got replicated at the Baltimore on the Maryland and Delaware interstate

border and found that black drivers were pulled over more even though there was no

statistical difference in driving habit between races.

Some scholars believed the disparity to be even greater because not everyone owns

a car. Thus, the my data is not 100 percent accurate since it is not comparing the data with

the driving population, but rather the Peoria population as a whole. This has been addressed

16 Although there are references in the following section support the idea that studying race is important,

this study will not go into detail on the research done in the legal field and philosophical research done on

studying disparities in the first place.


in several ways such as with surveys, driver’s license data, traffic accident data and

photographic stoplights and find that disparities are even greater than previously thought.

Brunson (2010) used qualitative methods to examine racial profiling in St. Louis

by conducting in-depth interviews to search for “under the surface” cultural explanations

for aggressive policing. The result was 83 percent of participants reported having a

personal experience with police harassment (2000). It also found that there were often

negative consequences associated with questioning the legality of the officer’s actions

(2000).

Skolnick (1966) also used qualitative methods to study the psychology of the police

called Justice without Trial. He wrote about the developed “working personality” created

by police and how this aids in his or her identification of suspects. Wilson observed that

deindustrialization lead to the archetype of the criminal young black male, which escalated

with President Bush’s unintentional “second” war on drugs with the Patriot Act (Balko,

2014). Alexander (2011) argues that although the Patriot Act was formed to prevent

terrorism by stripping away some privacy rights of citizens within the country, it has been

used more often for drug raids.

Research by Engel and Calnon (2004) brought these hypotheses into the traffic stop

discussion by determining once a stop had taken place, the likelihood of an officer to

request a search. The study found that race did not play a significant factor in being pulled

over; it did play a role in being asked for a search.

Figure 7 breaks down further how traffic stop data has been examined in past

research using different methods including some research mentioned in this section. This


figure was synthesized an article written on different methods used to examine racism at

traffic stops by Ridgeway & MacDonald (2010)

Name of

Method

Explanation

Pitfall(s)

Examples of Research

External

Benchmarks

The population as risk

for official police

contact

Due to approximations

it can hide bias or

exaggerate it

Zingraff, Farrell,

Parker, Alpert

Observation

Benchmarks

Observers go to

locations to tally racial

distribution of drivers

& law breakers

Does not account for

other environments

other than moving

violations

Albert Reiss Jr,

Lamberth, Fagan, Eck

and Alpert

Arrest and

Crime Suspect

Benchmarks

Arrest rates can be

used to measure bias

and establishing the

population at risk for

official police contact

due to reporting by the

community

# of individuals

stopped far exceeds the

# arrested and police

can be called to areas,

whereas traffic stops

don’t start with an

arrest

Gelman, Klinger,

Ridgeway

Instrumental

Variables

Creating an

independent variable

(such as night and

day) to evaluation

changes in stops

according to race

A controlled scientific

experiment is simply

impossible in the real

world

Neyman, Grogger and

Ridgeway

Internal

Benchmarking

Compares officer’s

stop decisions with

decisions made by

other officers working

in similar situations

1. If all officers are

equally bias, no

problems will show

2. There may be

legitimate outliers

Ridgway and

MacDonald, Decker

and Rojek, and

Walker

Figure 7. Methods Used in Past Research and the Pitfalls (Ridgeway & MacDonald,

2010)


Main Arguments by Critics

The NYPD police commissioner stated when criticized about racial profiling ,“the

racial/ethnic distribution of the subjects of stop and frisk reports reflect the demographics

of know violent crime suspects as reported by crime victims. Similarly, the demographic

of arrestees in violent crimes also correspond with the demographics of known violent

suspects.” Granted drug usage rates have been shown to be equal by race according to

healthcare studies, there is still a need for hit rate data.

This research is fairly new in comparison to other fields. Some other major counter-

arguments include the fact that police officers are often centralized in high crime areas,

which statically tend to be the neighborhoods of minority populations. One alternative

geographic explanation is the “out of place doctrine” of Weitzer and Tuch, which states

that perhaps officers identify a race with a particular neighborhood to be a red flag for

criminal activity. All of these criticisms were tested in some form in this research, which

is detailed in the next section.

Methodology

This study examined the traffic stop data that was requested through the Illinois

Department of Transportation via the Freedom of Information Act. The collection of data

came from the Peoria Police Department, which collected information during every stop

that resulted in a warning or citation. Data started in 2004 to the most current completed

year of 2014. The data was then converted into an Excel sheet to create the graphs used in

this paper. Comparison data comes from the most recent US Census of 2010. I evaluated

the estimated data by the US Census for years not surveyed and all years averaged out to

the data collected in 2010.


Limitations

It is important to take into consideration that data used in this study was collected

by the Peoria Police Department. Therefore, this study assumes that all the data is accurate.

One inaccuracy I found in the data was in 2012. The data given to me by IDOT comprised

of 2992 stops total, but the Peoria Police Department reported 3421 stops that year. All

other years were consistent with the data given to me.

Ideally to test geographical inconsistences I would use “beat location,” or where

the stop occurred. This was part of the data given to me via the Freedom of Information

Act for parts of some years. However, the corresponding locations to the beat code were

not given to me. The Peoria Police Department was unable to assist upon request.

Therefore, I used subsequent zip code data collected from the driver’s license that may

underestimate the racial disparities in stops as a result.

Data collected by the Peoria Police Department does not include stops that did not

result in a warning or citation. Therefore, the results concluded in this study can be

underestimates.

The population data is demographics of Peoria citizens, not of the driving

population. Again, the results may be underestimates of the racial disparity since previous

studies show there are, on average, fewer drivers who are black compared to the citizen

population.


Data Analysis

The purpose of this section is to give a road map to the major results found by

examining the traffic stop data for Peoria, IL.17 This study first looked at the bigger picture

of traffic stops by viewing the number of stops and rates by race, gender and age from 2004

to 2014.18 Then this study explored the commonly used explanation for these trends that

police officers tend to police areas of higher crime rates more vigorously and thus result in

higher population of black people getting pulled over and searched. To examine this

hypothesis, this study breaks down the traffic stop data by zip code. This section also

examines the “out of place” theory, which is further explained later. Third, this study

examines prejudices during the actual traffic stop by examining search numbers. The most

common counter argument for these results is that black people are more likely to have

contraband on their person and therefore should be searched most often. Thus, this study’s

final examination was of the hit rates by race, gender and age.

Traffic Stop Trends over Time

Figure 8 shows the general trend of traffic stops by race throughout time. The dotted

lines represent the percentage of the population that is either black or white taken by the

last major census in 2010. In a just society, the stop rates would be equal to the population

percentage. The data shows that whites are stopped at a significantly lower rate than their

representation of the population and blacks are pulled over at a much higher rate. It is also

important to note the significant change in 2014, where stops for whites decreased to the

lowest it has been since data started to be collected. However, blacks were represented the

17 The entire data in full can be found in the appendix of this paper 18 This is all the data available through the Freedom of Information Act at this time


most in 2014 than any other year since 2004. Further research with more data in the future

is needed to make conclusions on why this occurred.

We can break traffic stop data down even more to look at race, gender and age.

Figure 9 displays the most recent stop rates in 2014, 2013 and 2012. It shows us that

changes we saw throughout time in the Figure 8 has impacted the ages 20 to 29 the most.

This age range tends to have the largest rate for stops for both races and both genders.

However, throughout time the stops for white males has decreased, whereas the stop rate

for males 20 to 29 years of age increased and surpassed the other race and genders.

Figure 8. Traffic Stops Rates by Race in Peoria, IL throughout Time

In terms of gender, females tend to be slightly pulled-over less frequently. Race

shows more disparities than gender. Except for in year 2014, people who are both black

and female are represented significantly less likely to be pulled-over than people who are

both black and male. Also in 2012, white females between the ages 40 to 69 have the largest

pullover rate. There is not a consistent pattern for gender results.

0.00

0.10

0.20

0.30

0.40

0.50

0.60

0.70

0.80

Per

cen

t

Year

Stop Rate for Blacks or

African Americans

Population of Peoria that is

Black or African American

Stop Rate for Whites

Population of Peoria that is

White


These results are not surprising and parallel similar studies of other cities in the

past. The most common rebuttal to these results is that police are most abundant in high

crime areas, which tend to be neighborhoods with a majority of black people.

Consequently, one can reasonable conclude that more black people will be represented in

the data. Therefore, this study breaks down the Peoria traffic stop data by zip code to

examine this phenomenon.19

Traffic Stops by Zip codes

Figure 10 is a map that breaks down Peoria into the respective zip codes. It further

breaks down each of those zip codes to display the racial make-up of each and pullover

rates for each race20. Additionally, it maps out the crime rates received from the Peoria

Police Department website.21 The only zip code where blacks are the largest percentage of

the population is 61605. This is a high crime zip code. However, the zip codes 61603 and

61604 also have very high crime rates. Although black people are not the majority in these

zip codes, they have the worst representation of blacks in the traffic data of the entire city.

In fact, black people are over represented in every zip code in Peoria even zip codes with

low crime.22 The worst zip code in this regard was 61614.

The “out of place” theory seeks to explain the existence of high pullover rates for

blacks in low crime rate areas by accepting there is racism in the system. Nevertheless, this

theory states that naturally, blacks in low black populated areas will cause a police officer

19 Ideally this would have been collected with beat code data. However, the Peoria Police Department was

unable to provide me with this information upon request. 20 This reflects the population living in the zip code, not the driving population. 21 The color code for the crime map from high crime rate to lowest crime rate level: Pink, Yellow, Green,

and unmarked areas. 22 There is an exception statistically for zip code 61528. According to the 2010 census, 61528 has one black

resident and this person has yet to be caught driving while black.


to raise suspicion of criminal activity. If this theory were correct, we would expect to see

the same effect for whites in majority black zip codes. This is not the case. In the sole zip

code where blacks do make up the majority and has the lowest white population (32

percent), whites are represented the least of all of Peoria with only 16 percent of stops.


Figure 9. Stop Rate by Age, Race and Gender in Peoria, IL

0.000

0.020

0.040

0.060

0.080

0.100

0.120

<16 16-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 80-89 >90

Per

cen

tag

e

Age Range

2014

White & Male

White & Female

Black & Male

Black & Female

0.000

0.010

0.020

0.030

0.040

0.050

0.060

0.070

0.080

0.090

0.100

<16 16-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 80-89 >90

Per

cen

tag

e

Age Range

2013

White & Male

White & Female

Black & Male

Black & Female

0.000

0.001

0.002

0.003

0.004

0.005

0.006

<16 16-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 80-89 >90

Per

cen

tag

e

Age Range

2012

White & Male

White & Female

Black & Male

Black & Female


Figure 10. Peoria, IL Traffic Stops organized by Zip Code and Race in Comparison to

Crime Rates (2014)23

23 This map breaks down each Peoria zip codes to display the racial make-up of each and pullover rates for

each race within that zip code Additionally, it maps out the Peoria crime rates


Searches Conducted during Traffic Stops

Traffic stops occur because a citizen has broken the law in some fashion. Therefore,

it is unreasonable to solely look at who gets pulled over. Some critics of this approach say

it does not capture racism, but rather those who break the law the most. Searches, on the

other hand, are conducted based on the police officer’s perception of potential criminal

activity.

This study found that black citizens not only had a higher rate of being asked for a

search, but were searched most often in just numbers alone. This study has found that

blacks are searched at much higher rates than white in every year since data was available.

On average, a black person is 18.5 percent likely to be searched and 5.5 percent for a white

person. Figure 11 shows all of the years of data combine to show the distribution of

searches conducted by race. Figure 12 further breaks down the data to show a further

understanding of the issue for years 2012, 2013 and 2014. Black males between the ages

of 20 to 40 overshadow any other category.24 The number of searches conducted of black

males has also increased throughout time, whereas the other categories have remained

similar to previous years.

A common counter-argument to this finding is that black people are more likely to

have contraband on their person and therefore race would be an indicator (among several

such as language, clothing, etc.) that a police officer would use to suspect a black person

over a white person of having contraband. Hence, this study looked into hit rates for

contraband next.

24 Note this is a wider age range found than found previously in traffic stops


Figure 11. Total Number of Searches by Race (2004 through 2013)

8752

24

3878

3877

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

9000

10000

AFRICAN

AMERICAN OR

BLACK

ASIAN WHITE OR

CAUCASIAN

HISPANIC OR

LATINO

NATIVE

AMERICAN


0.000

5.000

10.000

15.000

20.000

25.000

<16 16-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 80-89 >90Nu

mb

er o

f S

earc

hed

Co

nd

uct

ed

Age Range

2014

White & Male

White & Female

Black & Male

Black & Female

0.000

5.000

10.000

15.000

20.000

25.000

30.000

<16 16-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 80-89 >90Nu

mb

er o

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hed

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nd

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ed

Age Range

2013

White & Male

White & Female

Black & Male

Black & Female

0.000

1.000

2.000

3.000

4.000

5.000

6.000

7.000

8.000

<16 16-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 80-89 >90Nu

mb

er o

f S

earc

hed

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nd

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ed

Age Range

2012

White & Male

White & Female

Black & Male

Black & Female


Figure 12. Number of Searches Conducted by Age, Race and Gender

Rates for Finding Contraband

The data analyzed for this study do not support the critic’s hypothesis that blacks

are more likely to have drugs on them. Figure 13 shows the number of drugs found

according to race. If you combine all the searches and all the hit rates of all the years

available for a more thorough examination you will find that the likelihood of finding

contraband on a white citizen is 13.8 percent and 13.9 percent for a black citizen, almost

equal. If you look at the years separately, most years with little exception find that it is

more likely to find drugs on a white person than a black person. However, most years

search less than 30 white people, the required number to make an accurate conclusion.

When you break down the data even further, you will find that in searches that

resulted in finding drugs, white people tended to carry higher amounts of drugs on their

person compared to black people. In fact, Figure 6 shows that white people were more

likely to have 11-100 grams on their person. Whereas, in Figure 7 black people were more

likely to have <2 to 10 grams on their person with 0 percent having higher than 51 grams

on their person.

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

White Searched 93 63 62 23 27 13 24 26

Found

29 29 15 7 7 4 9 8

Black Searched 51 52 61 42 43 53 51 60

Found 17 10 16 6 11 12 13 16

Figure 13. Number of Searches Compared to Number of Contraband Found in Peoria

Traffic Stops throughout Time


Figure 14. The Amount of Drugs found in a Positive Drug Search of White People during

a Traffic Stop in Peoria, IL in 2013

Figure 15. The Amount of Drugs found in a Positive Drug Search of Black People during

a Traffic Stop in Peoria, IL in 2013

Summary of the Data Analysis

The data collected showed that traffic stop rates have throughout time had

inconsistences in regards to percent blacks being stopped compared to the population.

These inconsistences are not explained by zip code data, which shows that these

>100 grams-14%

51-100 grams-29%11-50 grams- 29%

2-10 grams-14%

< 2 grams-14%

>100 grams- 0%

51-100 grams- 0%

11-50 grams-43%

2-10 grams- 29%

< 2 grams- 29%


inconsistences remained true across all zip codes making up the city of Peoria. In addition,

black people were more likely to be searched but less likely to have contraband on their

person. And if they were found with drugs, it was less amount than typically found on

white citizens. This disparity hits black males the most between 20 to 40 years of age.

Discussion

These results imply that systemic racism is prominent in Peoria and in traffic stops.

Peoria is not immune to what is occurring nationally. However, if our history proves

accurate, Peoria can also be the location for healthy change especially within the Peoria

Police Department. There have been some solutions attempted in Peoria and other

locations. This section will break down the results found in this study and break down

solutions proposed in previous writings.

Are Police Officers Racists?

No. This study found that the law is disproportionately distributed according to race

and age. This is most likely due to unconscious bias that leads to racial profiling during

stops. This distinction was further explained in the background section. This study mirrors

results found in other studies. Yeagle (2014) used IDOT data to examine Springfield, IL

and found that 42 percent of all stops were of minorities and this disparity is not explained

by crime rate. The Department of Justice did an investigation earlier this year on the

Ferguson Police Department and found that 85 percent of stops were of African Americans

even though they make up 67 percent of the population. The Department of Justice (2015)

also found that African Americans were 2.07 times more likely to be searched even though

African Americans were statistically less likely to be found with contraband. Therefore the

question arises, why these results remain consistent with almost every study? Bodenhausen


in 1990 conducted a study of students to see when they used stereotypes the most when

judging guilt and found that the use of stereotypes went up greatly when the student was

under stress. This can also be said for police at traffic stops. Skolnick (1966) calls the

phenomenon over time as the police officer’s “working personality.” Throughout copious

amounts of time, this stress accumulates to a cognitive lens through which police officers

see situations and events in a paramilitary fashion (1966). Often police officers come to

resent research such as this on principle because researchers rarely experience the life of a

police officer (1966). This argument has some weight behind it because studies have found

police officers gain solidarity with each other and thus have a strong tendency to find social

identity separate from the conventional world within his or her occupation that cannot be

understood from outsiders (1966). Colin MacInnes wrote about being a police officer,

[W]e’re not like everyone else. Some civilians fear us and play up to us, some

dislike us and keep out of our way but no one – well very few indeed—accepts us

as just ordinary like then. In one sense, dear, we’re just like hostile troops

occupying an enemy country. And say what you like, at times that makes us

lonely.

This tells us that police officers do not join the police force because they are racist, but

rather that through the specific stresses caused by the nature of a police officer’s work

environment, stereotypes unconsciously held by individuals are more likely to be expressed

and have the most damaging effects on society. Therefore, it is safe to assume anyone who

becomes a police officer will be in a similar position and exhibit similar responses to that

stress.


Social learning theory can explain racism at traffic stops even further. The social

learning theory argues that stereotypes are learning through direct observation of group

differences from exposure. The lack of information or connection with the community

forces a police officer to rely on these stereotypes to make decisions. This causes illusory

correlations between unrelated events. For example, if a police officer had the hypothesis

that black people tend to use drugs more often than white people, he or she will then search

more black people. The police officer will then take notice of when a black person has

drugs on their person as a validation of his or her stereotype and view white people with

drugs as an exception to the rule rather than race not being a factor when it comes to the

likelihood of having drugs. Cognitive dissonance theory states that information contrary to

this stereotype causes unpleasantness and is then avoided and refuted by police.

Solutions Proposed by Previous Research

There are a few solutions offered by literature. Skolnick (1966) advocated for

community programs that reverse the threat police feel by the community and allows the

community to de-isolate the police officers in terms of social identification. Most officers

do not live in the communities they police or have much contact with different cultures

within their communities. Peoria has an interesting program in which they place officers

to live in each of the Peoria districts. Details on this program, however, could not be

provided upon request. Tyler and Fagan (2008) found community programs encourage

working with others, but not among Whites. It also found that legitimacy of the police

shaped the communities willingness to cooperate in fighting crime (2008). In terms of

traffic stops this is important because if one believes they are being pulled over and

searched because of their race, the more likely they are to be less supportive and resistant,


which causes the police to suspect them even more because of the working profile

discussed earlier (Tyler and Fagan, 2008).

White (2010) suggests using a variation of internal and external controls to prevent

racially biased policing. This would include a more careful recruitment process to weed

out strong prejudicial attitudes, anti-racist training at all three typical stages of the police

academy, effective supervision of potential profiling, early warning system checks, and

civil litigation such as open investigations, judicial reviews, transparency (2010). This

solution, like the previous solution, requires the high involvement of the community and

police department.

Adding the TASER and body cameras to police officers has recently been pushed

as a solution in response to the major protests that happened this past year. Research still

needs to continue on racial bias and police use of the TASER (White and Saunders, 2010).

There are two potential problems. First is that since the TASER is usually not lethal, it will

be used more often instead of other de-escalation techniques. The second potential issue is

that officers may rely on the TASER and not perfect other forms of de-escalation

techniques when the TASER does not work. Further research is needed to prove or disprove

these predictions. Cameras also will be of no help if the officers are not properly informed

of the implications of the law. This tells us that if a department wants to implement the

plan of carrying TASERs and body cameras, it must be in tandem with other changes in

the department. This is discussed further in the conclusion.

Basically, none of these plans is a catchall for ending racial profiling. Future

research is needed to continue improving upon our justice system.


The Don’t Shoot Program

Peoria is unique in the fact it has started a “Don’t Shoot Program” based off the

book Don’t Shoot: one man a street fellowship, and the end of violence in inner-city

America by David M. Kennedy (2011). WEEK Reporter (2015) claims the program was

started because the community was tired of the increased violence caused by Peoria gangs

killing younger and younger children every year, even though Peoria Police Department’s

own crime data does not support either of these claims. Currently, Champaign-Urbana, IL

is looking into implementing a similar program. In a local Champaign-Urbana newspaper,

the News Gazette (2015), Kennedy offers an overview of the program in five key points.

First, the program targets the most violent offenders (2015). Second, it uses resources (such

as jail logs, FBI databases, etc.) to have a face-to-face forum (2015). This face-to-face

forum is the third step and includes three important groups: law enforcement, social service

providers and community figures (2015). Next, they send the message “accept our help, or

accept the consequences” (2015). Lastly, it creates a “process of persuasion” to gain the

help of tight-lipped neighborhoods (2015).

This strategy is grounded on the Broken Windows theory, which when applied to

police tactics, brings attention towards the removal of visible signs of social disorder

(Fagan et al., 2010). Kennedy in his book argues that the Don’t Shoot Program is different

than Broken Windows programs, but I would disagree due to the definition of the theory

in terms of policing implications described by Fagan et al (2010, p. 309) as,

“Police tactics, resources and attention were redirected toward removal of visible

signs of social disorder – ‘broken windows’ – by using police resources both for

vigorous enforcement of laws on minor ‘quality of life’ offenses, while


aggressively interdicting citizens in an intensive and widespread search for

weapons.”

This definition corresponds to Peoria Police Department’s description of the program

found on the website www.dontshootpeoria.com (2012) as follows:

“It’s an aggressive multi-strategy anti-gang and anti-gun violence program

designed to decrease shootings and get the most dangerous criminals off the

streets… The centerpiece of the program is a focused deterrence strategy enhanced

by an innovative community-wide education and outreach program crafted to

thoroughly incorporate all segments of the citizenry of the Greater Peoria area.

Using offender-based policing strategies, police and prosecutors send a specific

message to a number of high-risk individuals that gun violence will not be

tolerated.”

Studies have shown that the efficiency of these programs decrease over time,

perhaps due to the excessive strain the programs take on the department. The Don’t Shoot

Program in Peoria requested a grant from the Department of Justice but it was $300,000

and therefore the program is sponsored by local businesses such as Caterpillar, Peoria

Journal Star newspaper, Peoria Civic Center, Peoria Public Libraries, Peoria Public

Schools, Ameren, American Water, etc. (Mosemark and Keen, 2013;

www.dontshootpeoria.com, 2012).25

Some studies show that the programs do not work at all and claim that success

headlines often use the decreasing crime rate as a sign that the program worked when in

25 This is a potential sign that the program has flaws. This is because the former Attorney General Eric H.

Holder Jr. put forward the largest civil rights agenda in the history of the Department of Justice saying, “we

will not accept criminal justice procedures that have discriminatory effects… we will not hesitate to fight

institutionalized injustice where it is found (Apuzzo, 2015).


fact crime was decreasing before the program started. According to the Don’t Shoot

program’s own data this may be the case for Peoria as well. Below is shown the crime rates

in Peoria. Note, the Don’t Shoot program was started in 2012.

Figure 16. Peoria, IL Shootings thru October of each Year, chart made by the Don’t

Shoot Program (2015)

The purpose of this research is not to evaluate the success of the Don’t Shoot

program. The purpose of this section is merely to point out the important correlation

between these programs and the implications it has for racial profiling.


Conclusion

The purpose of this final section is the break down the information presented in

this paper into recommendations for the Peoria Police Department and the community to

synthesize this information in a proactive way.

Recommendations for the Peoria Police Department

The following is a comprehensive list of seven suggestions specifically focused for

the Peoria Police Department based off previous research, my research and with a strong

emphasis from the recommendations given from the Department of Justice to the Ferguson

Police Department earlier this year. I make this emphasis because this particular

investigation is the most in-depth study done in the field of racial profiling and should be

given proper recognition since most researchers do not have unlimited access to police data

and personnel like the Department of Justice.26 Since racial profiling is an issue within

systemic racism across the United States, these recommendations are valid for most police

departments. I am confident, however, given the Peoria Police Department’s past record,

they will be successful in implementing the following if they hold true to the procedural

justice model.27

1. Implement a Robust System of True Community Policing

During my research, I was unable to find true community policing efforts made by

the Peoria Police Department. There have been some programs that place officers

26 The Department of Justice is currently conducting more than 5 in-depth investigations similar to the one

conducted in Ferguson. I would recommend police departments read and take into consideration the

recommendations at the end of each report when they are released, even though they are not addressed to

their department specifically. 27 The procedural justice model of policing, as explained by Tyler and Fagan, 2008) argues that police can

build general legitimacy among the public by treating people justly during personal encounters.


residentially in each police district and the police hold events that often are attended by

family and friends of the officers. While these are good things to have in the department, I

am skeptical of their impact on the most vulnerable to crime community members. Past

research and the FPD investigation suggest creating a more community based police

department by increasing opportunities for officers to have frequent and positive

interactions with people outside of any enforcement contact, purposely populations who

have negative ideas of police officers. Avoiding patrol shifts longer than 8 hours has shown

to reduce stress and in affect, decrease unconscious racial profiling. I would also

recommend not assigning geographic areas, or districts, so small that cause patrol officers

to patrol the same street 5-10 times a shift while on the other hand not patrolling other

streets in bigger districts for days.

Every study conducted has suggested train, train and train again. This is perhaps

the most important and essential thing any police department should do and can do so on

any budget. This should be reoccurring (not just 3 hours at the academy) and frequent (not

just once a year). Psychology research has taught us that untangling unconscious racial

stereotypes is a skill that needs work in each individual. The Department of Justice

suggested including crime prevention, officer safety and anti-discrimination advantages of

community policing to be included in the training. It is important that officers know what

community policing is in action, and their role in implementing it successful and not just a

single event for the newspapers.

This also helps police officers reduce their stress and anxiety caused by the nature

of the job requirements and environment. It can help reduce the gut reactions of criminality

based on stereotypes and reduce the risk of officers over reacting in situations. The


Department of Justice recommends measure and evaluating individual performance using

community engagements, problem-oriented-policing projects and crime prevention rather

than productivity (such as book-based exams).

2. Focus the Purpose of Traffic Stops on Public Safety

Peoria police officers should give great care to when deciding to take enforcement

action. The duty of the police is to promote public safety. Therefore, enforcement action is

required when it promotes public safety, not simply because they have the legal authority

to do so. Therefore, I firmly suggest removing any form of evaluating the number of tickets

each officer has given. Specifically eliminating the ten tickets a month benchmark for

Peoria police officers even if it is not enforced strictly speaking. Numerous studies based

on the realistic conflict theory find that quota systems increase racial profiling (Department

of Justice, 2015; Sherif and Sherif, 1953; LeVine & Campbell, 1972). This evidence was

what noted pro-quota governor Quinn to sign a bill making quotas illegal in Illinois in 2014

(Ferris, 2014). The Police Chief at the time, Settingsgaard, said without the quota, he was

afraid Peoria officers would slack on enforcement (2014). The Department of Justice would

disagree, noting this was a contributing problem to racial profiling conflicts in the Ferguson

police department and found setting fixed traffic stop goals for revenue, even as one of

many reasons, strictly illegal.

The Department of Justice suggested to Ferguson requiring supervisory approval

prior to issuing more than 2 citations, making an arrest due to failure to comply, resisting

arrest, disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, and/or obstruction of government

operations. I suggest this because supervisors should have more in-depth knowledge on the

applications of the law naturally by their gained positions and can help guide officers in


learning the proper use of the law instead of reinforcing misinterpretations. This also helps

take pressures off individual police officers and onto the department since officers may

hesitate to act due to unfamiliarity to the law and fear of being punished for mistaken

misconduct. This, however, does not mean that police officers do not need training. Like

suggested within the first point, this training should be initial at the academy and regularly

recurring to help Peoria police officers refine the skill of policing without bias. More

information on training can be found in point five.

3. Continuously Collect and Analyze Police Data

Once the quota system has been removed, it should be required of officers to report

all stops, even if the interaction does not result in a citation but especially if the stop resulted

in a search. Data of any kind should be coupled with a more robust geographic location

system such as a corresponding map for beat locations. If possible, this data should be

evaluated anonymous of the officer. This allows for further data collection to track the

improvements of the department as a whole in response to the changes and not intended to

punish individual officers. Checks for individual bias will be discussed in another point.

It is important to develop a system that regularly reviews this data to ensure

consistency with public safety goals. This analysis should look at several indicators such

as race, gender and age to detect problematic trends in the department such as this research

sought to do. If a problem is detected, it should be followed by a comprehensive plan to

decrease the issue during a concrete amount of time centered on the promotion of public

safety of all individuals of Peoria. Ideally, this plan would include community members

outside of the police department (see point one).


4. Reevaluate the Don’t Shoot Program/ Strict-on-Crime Programs

Strict-on-crime or “Broken Windows” programs can work in theory, but often

times do not work in application due to critical errors in design. I would recommend

stripping the program of intimidation tactics and promote community resources and

involvement that tackle the issues causing people to want to join gangs in the first place.

Further research specialized in this field would be needed to make these transitions

successful. Where these fields overlap in solutions is noted in point one on community

policing.

5. Initial and Regularly Recurring Training

Training is the most important thing any police department can do to become more

efficient and successful. This research, previous research, and the Department of Justice

supports the unfortunate reality that training is lax when it comes to racial profiling. Racial

profiling cannot be fix by simply putting cameras on officers and TASERs on their belts.

TASERs alone can cause for further racial profiling because officers will used TASERs

when unnecessary for convenience and do not practice other de-escalation techniques

leaving them vulnerable. Cameras alone can cause officers to second-guess themselves in

fear of accidental misconduct due to improper training. However, these two things combine

with other incentives can be a tool for decreasing racial profiling in police departments.

This training should require officers to continuously perfect their de-escalation

techniques and consider TASERs as a last resort especially in schools. In tandem with point

one, it is important to eliminate avoidable disparities in the use of force by helping officers

not to interpret low tense situations as high tense and life threatening. Although a few

officers may know what racial profiling as a rough concept, it is important for officers to

have initial and recurring training that include how stereotypes and implicit bias affect


police work from specialists who study the concept professionally. This will help police

officers understand, navigate and ask questions about the importance of procedural justice,

police legitimacy, the negative impacts of profiling and how it does not jeopardize officer

safety, but actually improves safety. This step could also be most effective if it involved

community members, especially members who have distrust for the police.

Supervisors should be trained on how to detect bias profiling such as “early

intervention systems” and proper ways of responding to misconduct by assigning officers

with additional attention, training and/or equipment to improve their effectiveness. This is

discussed in further detail in point 6.

Including community members in this training is most important; especially

populations who have high levels of distrust The Peoria Police Department. Incorporating

civilian input into all aspects of policing including policy development, training, use of

force reviews, and investigation of misconduct complaints is pressed in most studies.

6. Develop Mechanisms to More Effectively Respond to Allegations of Officer

Misconduct

This recommendation requires complaints to be filed and investigated by

supervisors. This investigation should not include any person involved in the misconduct

in any way. The system should be fair and consistent in its discipline for the misconduct of

officers and these guidelines should be clearly disseminated to the officers for continuous

reference.

In terms of racial profiling, this would mean putting in place a system of checks

that is objective to find bias and train supervisors on the appropriate response to officers

found to hold bias either by more training or equipment such as TASER or body camera.


7. Compressive Hiring Practices that Test for Strong Implicit Bias

As it currently stands, the Peoria Police Department does not have checks in place

to look for racial bias during the entry examinations. I would suggest using a check such

as the Harvard Implicit Bias test to check for any extreme biases. I do not suggest rejecting

a person based on the test results, especially if they test well in other areas. If this is the

case, I would recommend training the individual and retesting them to see if their biases

can be changed with the proper exposure to training.

Recommendations for the Public

This research has shown that it is very important for data collection to be

comprehensive, complete and wide in span. The national bill for data collection has been

unsuccessful in the past, but with the renewed public knowledge on systemic racism, there

is a strong chance it can be revived. People can also push for departments to collect data

without a mandated law. This helps researchers, individuals and departments to track and

check the progress of systems to becoming unbiased. Currently, Illinois requires

departments to collect data on stops that result in a ticket but this can be extended to track

even more information necessary for a full review.

Support changes in the police department in response to research and get involved

in the process. The only interaction people have with the police should not be at traffic

stops. Do not accept increase in traffic stops and arrest rates as proof of stricter policing.

The end goal is a safer community for everyone and this takes everyone to do.

Most importantly, learn about how systemic racism takes place in your everyday

life whilst appreciating the work done by our local officers. According to Martin Luther

King Jr. (1963), the biggest threat to justice is the silent majority. Eliminating systemic

racism requires community involvement and can increase officer safety. Letting our


minority populations know that we support them, does not mean we do not support our

police. It is important to make that message very clear. It takes a community to recognize

the problem and a community to fix the problem. I merely suggest that the Peoria Police

Department can be a vessel for that change.


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Appendix A: Total Number of Stops by Race28

Appendix B: Percentage of Stops by Race

Appendix C: Search and Contraband Hit Rates

28 Originally, this study intended to study Peoria’s Latino population. However, there was not enough data

to test the hypothesis. I included the data here for future research.


Appendix D: Zip Code Data


Appendix E: Gender, Race and Age Data


Documents

Running Head: TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE … · traffic stops by the peoria police department 2 table of contents ... the purpose of this final section is the break down the